AllenVG
182 Reviews liked by AllenVG
Sunday Gold
2022
In my opinion, despite the critical issues, the title has potential, it gets lost in some heaviness of the gameplay because it probably wants to overdo it, but the style is original and I still played it with pleasure and perhaps only in the last few hours have I felt a little heaviness. I will definitely follow the team's future work.
Kichikuou Rance
1996
remember learning about this game before i'd ever try rance, confused how a 1996 game with a rapist protagonist could possibly be anything more than weird fetish garbage.
how fucking wrong was I. This game is genuinely a masterpiece. I have so much good things to say about this game that as soon as I start writing one thing down I want to delete it and start writing another. I've rewritten this review so many times because I genuinely don't know what to say, because no matter what I write it doesn't feel like I'm doing this game justice. It's just that good.
how fucking wrong was I. This game is genuinely a masterpiece. I have so much good things to say about this game that as soon as I start writing one thing down I want to delete it and start writing another. I've rewritten this review so many times because I genuinely don't know what to say, because no matter what I write it doesn't feel like I'm doing this game justice. It's just that good.
Forspoken
2023
luminous creates worst game ever, asked to leave square enix
Kichikuou Rance
1996
potentiality great game spoiled by the fact its an RPG from the 90s and thus is really hard to get into because absolutely nothing about it tries to be approachable or streamlined.
i obviously didn't finish this game, but after being so harshly confused by everything in this game and having to rollback to older saves after fucking myself to the point of no return multiple times i dont think i can handle any more of this game.
i obviously didn't finish this game, but after being so harshly confused by everything in this game and having to rollback to older saves after fucking myself to the point of no return multiple times i dont think i can handle any more of this game.
the game is a masterpiece. not everyone will understand though.
this is a game whose fun is derived through how relateable it is. when you read a good book, you feel a sort of connection with the author because the author managed to capture an aspect of the human experience and fossilize it into a tangible form - writing. it's not an exaggeration to say that reading a good book makes you feel connected to humanity as a whole, because you can see your own life experiences within the book that you are reading, you feel less alone in the world, you feel more understood, a book can tell you that other humans can have similar experiences to you. it can feel extremely cathartic and fulfilling to read a book whose experience can be very relateable, whose experience can teach you about life or reinterpret your own experiences or memories.
this game is like that.
this is a game whose fun is derived through how relateable it is. when you read a good book, you feel a sort of connection with the author because the author managed to capture an aspect of the human experience and fossilize it into a tangible form - writing. it's not an exaggeration to say that reading a good book makes you feel connected to humanity as a whole, because you can see your own life experiences within the book that you are reading, you feel less alone in the world, you feel more understood, a book can tell you that other humans can have similar experiences to you. it can feel extremely cathartic and fulfilling to read a book whose experience can be very relateable, whose experience can teach you about life or reinterpret your own experiences or memories.
this game is like that.
Brightis
1999
If I were simply comparing this against a 'modern ideal of Exploration-Action RPG design' I'd probably give this a 3, maybe a 2. But since it was put out in the late 90s, is 3D, and surprisingly playable, I'll bump it up to a 4.
actually 5 bc brightis #1
COMBAT
Mechanically, this is a hard to control action game with no lock-on mechanic. Your sword hitboxes are small and very directional based on swinging up or down. Moving left or right ALSO turns the camera so positioning yourself properly is tricky, especially during boss fights. There's a complex moves system but you end up sticking to two or three useful moves. Basically the 'move economy' is too close together that it's hard to distinguish the value of one move vs. another - usually I just end up thinking 'a combo would be good' or 'a charge strike could be good for getting one hit in and running off.' The depth of combat doesn't go very far. Usually you just hold block until there's an opening, swing, get away, etc. Some enemies attack through your guard, some move very fast, but for the most part combat tends to feel repetitive, sometimes even annoying - it's hard to precisely line up and easy to get smacked without realizing it.
Bosses, rather than pushing combat into interesting and focused space, end up being battles of attrition, trying to awkwardly line up and smack the enemy before getting hit in the face with a 30% damage attack.
HISTORY
STILL, it's pretty admirable for a time where there were only a few decent attempts at 3D exploration-action combat. By the PS2 era various studios had good attempts by that time - DMC, Kingdom Hearts, Tales of, the Ys 6/Oath/Origin, Xanadu Next - but the PS1 era is pretty slim. You have Granstream Saga (also by Quintet/Shade) (1997), which is more focused in combat scope (I haven't played it), as well as Brave Fencer Musashi, which is simple and 2D zelda-y in combat scope. Alundra 2 has a lot of money put into it but the boss design and combat design are a bit straightforward. Parasite Eve is good, although more of a shooter.
We also have Mega Man Legends, great 3D 3rd-person shooter RPGs, and Threads of Fate.
Of course there's the N64 Zeldas - which feature combat, but honestly more as a 'texture' than as a combat system that was interesting to engage with. Funnily enough the Wikipedia article for Action RPG skips completely from late 90s 2D ARPGs to Demon's Souls...! On the Western side, developers didn't seem to explore the 3D ARPG much? I guess it was just hard to do 3D games then. There's Ultima IX, King's Quest VIII (a personal favorite...although not a very sound game, design-wise, haha).
Anyways, the point is, Brightis did a pretty good and forward-looking job in 1999! I wouldn't be surprised if it was the basis for some of FromSoft's 2000s (also mixed/so-so) ARPGs - Evergrace 1 and 2, those other ones after it.
Alright, back to the game...
SO WHAT'S GOOD ABOUT IT...?
The story isn't too substantial, standard genre dark fantasy fare, but it is fun to revisit the village over time and talk to NPCs and see how they're feeling.
What's neat is the overworld and dungeon design. Though both go stale quickly, the game features a fully connected overworld (with loading pauses), which gives it a very 'lived-in' and hiking feel. As far as I could tell there is no fast travel (if I missed the option then... lol), so you have to walk everywhere. Areas feel like snowy mountains, or ravines, or grassy plains. You'll even unlock a few shortcuts around the overworld.
It goes stale, though, as only a few enemy types roam the overworld. They get boring to fight and also barely give EXP or have a reason to be killed. Still, the overworld spaces always have some interesting visual gimmick to them, but you have to really wish that there was a wider screen at the time or better camera controls. This is a case where the super short draw distance is kind of sad, actually...it hides a lot of the expansiveness the game designers were going for.
Dungeons are interesting - they, too, are 'continuous' and I think, realistically laid out. But it's hard to keep the whole structure in your head because most dungeons are interior hallways. Still, the dungeons are very ambitious - there's a beautiful temple near a lake with sprawling, Shadow of the Colossus-esque mossy ruins, and a tower climbing into the sky. You'll find huge underground caverns, strange ruins... etc.
It was a lot of fun to see these RPG tropes brought to life in a way that reminded me of the later Souls series.
That being said the design gets a little boring, simply because there isn't much to do except walk around and fight enemies with the sort of flat battle system where enemies all have the same strategy and it doesn't control well enough to want to fight. You quickly see why N64 Zelda opted for items and puzzles to spice up their fairly flat combat system. Dungeons feature a 'brightness' mechanic where if you can run out of light and it becomes hard to navigate levels or have a sense of the space. This happens a lot in later levels.
Dungeons generally have pacing issues - you have to clear them in one go without leaving or you lose your keys. This is tiring and also, because you can't get a sense for the whole dungeon layout, it's hard to tell how far along you are. this is quite the headache when you're far along from a save point, trying to figure out where you are, without dying to something..
Still, I think it's brilliant for the time and quite ambitious. It's a shame that Quintet and Shade folded after this or split up, because they really could have done something amazing in the 2000s! If there's anything I've learned about Exploratory Action RPGs, from the '80s till today, is that it's very hard to make one. Everyone's just building off of ideas from the previous games, while trying to push things slightly forward, or finding ways around the difficulty of the 3D view and camera.
Even 3D exploration-action games in 2023 are still coasting (FromSoft included) off of the innovations of Demon's and Dark Souls 1, going down more technically-demanding paths (Nioh), rolling around in the impotent mud of gacha action design (Genshin Impact), or falling into that +0.5% Defense Diablo Garbage Picking Hole. To me the genre feels a bit stale nowadays. It's time for someone to shake it up again!
actually 5 bc brightis #1
COMBAT
Mechanically, this is a hard to control action game with no lock-on mechanic. Your sword hitboxes are small and very directional based on swinging up or down. Moving left or right ALSO turns the camera so positioning yourself properly is tricky, especially during boss fights. There's a complex moves system but you end up sticking to two or three useful moves. Basically the 'move economy' is too close together that it's hard to distinguish the value of one move vs. another - usually I just end up thinking 'a combo would be good' or 'a charge strike could be good for getting one hit in and running off.' The depth of combat doesn't go very far. Usually you just hold block until there's an opening, swing, get away, etc. Some enemies attack through your guard, some move very fast, but for the most part combat tends to feel repetitive, sometimes even annoying - it's hard to precisely line up and easy to get smacked without realizing it.
Bosses, rather than pushing combat into interesting and focused space, end up being battles of attrition, trying to awkwardly line up and smack the enemy before getting hit in the face with a 30% damage attack.
HISTORY
STILL, it's pretty admirable for a time where there were only a few decent attempts at 3D exploration-action combat. By the PS2 era various studios had good attempts by that time - DMC, Kingdom Hearts, Tales of, the Ys 6/Oath/Origin, Xanadu Next - but the PS1 era is pretty slim. You have Granstream Saga (also by Quintet/Shade) (1997), which is more focused in combat scope (I haven't played it), as well as Brave Fencer Musashi, which is simple and 2D zelda-y in combat scope. Alundra 2 has a lot of money put into it but the boss design and combat design are a bit straightforward. Parasite Eve is good, although more of a shooter.
We also have Mega Man Legends, great 3D 3rd-person shooter RPGs, and Threads of Fate.
Of course there's the N64 Zeldas - which feature combat, but honestly more as a 'texture' than as a combat system that was interesting to engage with. Funnily enough the Wikipedia article for Action RPG skips completely from late 90s 2D ARPGs to Demon's Souls...! On the Western side, developers didn't seem to explore the 3D ARPG much? I guess it was just hard to do 3D games then. There's Ultima IX, King's Quest VIII (a personal favorite...although not a very sound game, design-wise, haha).
Anyways, the point is, Brightis did a pretty good and forward-looking job in 1999! I wouldn't be surprised if it was the basis for some of FromSoft's 2000s (also mixed/so-so) ARPGs - Evergrace 1 and 2, those other ones after it.
Alright, back to the game...
SO WHAT'S GOOD ABOUT IT...?
The story isn't too substantial, standard genre dark fantasy fare, but it is fun to revisit the village over time and talk to NPCs and see how they're feeling.
What's neat is the overworld and dungeon design. Though both go stale quickly, the game features a fully connected overworld (with loading pauses), which gives it a very 'lived-in' and hiking feel. As far as I could tell there is no fast travel (if I missed the option then... lol), so you have to walk everywhere. Areas feel like snowy mountains, or ravines, or grassy plains. You'll even unlock a few shortcuts around the overworld.
It goes stale, though, as only a few enemy types roam the overworld. They get boring to fight and also barely give EXP or have a reason to be killed. Still, the overworld spaces always have some interesting visual gimmick to them, but you have to really wish that there was a wider screen at the time or better camera controls. This is a case where the super short draw distance is kind of sad, actually...it hides a lot of the expansiveness the game designers were going for.
Dungeons are interesting - they, too, are 'continuous' and I think, realistically laid out. But it's hard to keep the whole structure in your head because most dungeons are interior hallways. Still, the dungeons are very ambitious - there's a beautiful temple near a lake with sprawling, Shadow of the Colossus-esque mossy ruins, and a tower climbing into the sky. You'll find huge underground caverns, strange ruins... etc.
It was a lot of fun to see these RPG tropes brought to life in a way that reminded me of the later Souls series.
That being said the design gets a little boring, simply because there isn't much to do except walk around and fight enemies with the sort of flat battle system where enemies all have the same strategy and it doesn't control well enough to want to fight. You quickly see why N64 Zelda opted for items and puzzles to spice up their fairly flat combat system. Dungeons feature a 'brightness' mechanic where if you can run out of light and it becomes hard to navigate levels or have a sense of the space. This happens a lot in later levels.
Dungeons generally have pacing issues - you have to clear them in one go without leaving or you lose your keys. This is tiring and also, because you can't get a sense for the whole dungeon layout, it's hard to tell how far along you are. this is quite the headache when you're far along from a save point, trying to figure out where you are, without dying to something..
Still, I think it's brilliant for the time and quite ambitious. It's a shame that Quintet and Shade folded after this or split up, because they really could have done something amazing in the 2000s! If there's anything I've learned about Exploratory Action RPGs, from the '80s till today, is that it's very hard to make one. Everyone's just building off of ideas from the previous games, while trying to push things slightly forward, or finding ways around the difficulty of the 3D view and camera.
Even 3D exploration-action games in 2023 are still coasting (FromSoft included) off of the innovations of Demon's and Dark Souls 1, going down more technically-demanding paths (Nioh), rolling around in the impotent mud of gacha action design (Genshin Impact), or falling into that +0.5% Defense Diablo Garbage Picking Hole. To me the genre feels a bit stale nowadays. It's time for someone to shake it up again!
Whatever your first impression is, that the art is gorgeous, that the subject matter is alarming, or that the story is not as grandiose as other AliceSoft games I highly recommend giving Dohna Dohna an honest chance. It had had many surprisingly thoughtful moments, and I have the sense that the authors cared about what they were writing.
The cyberpunk elements are light, but the theme addresses certain niches within the genre (eg. the commodification of human life) in a stand-out way. What most holds it back is that due to a strained development history, certain plot threads weren't fully developed. But this is a character driven game over a plot driven game, and the character writing is still top notch.
Also, the localization is amazing. I've talked to Shiravune's loc producer, and he has such a deep understanding of this work and made some perfect choices. It's extremely faithful and preserves meaning of subtle details.
The game gets better with each playthrough, you'll notice more and more small things that foreshadow or call back to certain developments, and things take on new meaning. It's pretty meticulous and I constantly notice new character details!
It's one of the most polished eroge ever, in the UI, the gameplay flow, and overall design. On a first playthrough, the difficulty is just right IMO. The music is full of bangers in a variety of EDM genres. It's relaxing (despite being emotionally challenging at times) and a great 'white noise' game.
Those coming for a fun cyberpunk-lite rebel romp with vanilla H will find it, but those coming for something darker will also find it, and a player is free to choose to what degree they engage with that content. NSFW can also be turned off if you want, but...
I'd recommend a playthrough where you don't raise any heroine's feeling level at all until first getting their bad ends in the second half. It changes their Feeling events in such a way that shows its true morally salient character as a game about this type of violence. Some of it is surprisingly gentle and left me speechless. Even though these scenes are difficult to access, I encourage people to read them before making final judgments.
Violent scenes in this game are usually written from the perspective of the victim and focus on their emotional experiences, which is probably the most important thing to keep in mind. Some things, for example, an instance where a character was written as basically dissociating, and an abuser was written in a realistic way, gave me pause. Characters struggle with a lot of authentic PTSD related emotions that I was personally able to recognize, and they are told compassionate and healing things.
FWIW, the moral argument is not that 'its not that bad because there are worse people doing worse things', and certainly not that 'SV is okay.' instead, it presents a cycle of violence and raises questions about the factors which perpetuate it and why someone would be capable of such a thing. The one clear thing it does is condemn abuse, but it leaves the reader to ponder it's events and the meaning of them
They aren't ALL perfect, and it IS ero... but genuine effort was made (that didn't have to be), and I really appreciated it. In fiction, a reader can explore their emotions about these topics in a safe and controlled way to ask themselves tough questions. Stories are one way obfuscated issues like abuse can be brought to light. The medium does not effect the value of that message, and I also think that a whole work can be both serious and enjoyable, and that the two are not mutually exclusive.
The explicit scenes highlight the discrepancy between the abusers selfish, lustful acts of domination and degradation and the victims experience of extreme trauma, the lack of empathy that makes something healthy, safe, loving rather than violent. These scenes are contrasted pretty expressly with the consensual scenes.
The heroines own trauma usually directly calls into question the type of abuse their clan is involved in through Kuma, and he tries to show them compassion while at the same time ruining the lives of others, and its a compelling point of conflict.
Both sides of the game work together perfectly when all of the content is experienced, so don't skip it! It's my favorite work of fiction ever, it genuinely suprised me, and i will never forget it.
If you're interested in what I touched on, I wrote this essay that elaborates on it:
https://fuwanovel.net/2023/08/why-dohna-dohna-matters/
The cyberpunk elements are light, but the theme addresses certain niches within the genre (eg. the commodification of human life) in a stand-out way. What most holds it back is that due to a strained development history, certain plot threads weren't fully developed. But this is a character driven game over a plot driven game, and the character writing is still top notch.
Also, the localization is amazing. I've talked to Shiravune's loc producer, and he has such a deep understanding of this work and made some perfect choices. It's extremely faithful and preserves meaning of subtle details.
The game gets better with each playthrough, you'll notice more and more small things that foreshadow or call back to certain developments, and things take on new meaning. It's pretty meticulous and I constantly notice new character details!
It's one of the most polished eroge ever, in the UI, the gameplay flow, and overall design. On a first playthrough, the difficulty is just right IMO. The music is full of bangers in a variety of EDM genres. It's relaxing (despite being emotionally challenging at times) and a great 'white noise' game.
Those coming for a fun cyberpunk-lite rebel romp with vanilla H will find it, but those coming for something darker will also find it, and a player is free to choose to what degree they engage with that content. NSFW can also be turned off if you want, but...
I'd recommend a playthrough where you don't raise any heroine's feeling level at all until first getting their bad ends in the second half. It changes their Feeling events in such a way that shows its true morally salient character as a game about this type of violence. Some of it is surprisingly gentle and left me speechless. Even though these scenes are difficult to access, I encourage people to read them before making final judgments.
Violent scenes in this game are usually written from the perspective of the victim and focus on their emotional experiences, which is probably the most important thing to keep in mind. Some things, for example, an instance where a character was written as basically dissociating, and an abuser was written in a realistic way, gave me pause. Characters struggle with a lot of authentic PTSD related emotions that I was personally able to recognize, and they are told compassionate and healing things.
FWIW, the moral argument is not that 'its not that bad because there are worse people doing worse things', and certainly not that 'SV is okay.' instead, it presents a cycle of violence and raises questions about the factors which perpetuate it and why someone would be capable of such a thing. The one clear thing it does is condemn abuse, but it leaves the reader to ponder it's events and the meaning of them
They aren't ALL perfect, and it IS ero... but genuine effort was made (that didn't have to be), and I really appreciated it. In fiction, a reader can explore their emotions about these topics in a safe and controlled way to ask themselves tough questions. Stories are one way obfuscated issues like abuse can be brought to light. The medium does not effect the value of that message, and I also think that a whole work can be both serious and enjoyable, and that the two are not mutually exclusive.
The explicit scenes highlight the discrepancy between the abusers selfish, lustful acts of domination and degradation and the victims experience of extreme trauma, the lack of empathy that makes something healthy, safe, loving rather than violent. These scenes are contrasted pretty expressly with the consensual scenes.
The heroines own trauma usually directly calls into question the type of abuse their clan is involved in through Kuma, and he tries to show them compassion while at the same time ruining the lives of others, and its a compelling point of conflict.
Both sides of the game work together perfectly when all of the content is experienced, so don't skip it! It's my favorite work of fiction ever, it genuinely suprised me, and i will never forget it.
If you're interested in what I touched on, I wrote this essay that elaborates on it:
https://fuwanovel.net/2023/08/why-dohna-dohna-matters/
Tengai Makyou Zero
1995
This is the Tengai Makyo for me.
I'm not sure if this is the best Tengai Makyoukai for me, but it's the only one I've ever played.
So I'm going to ignore all the history and reviews from the previous games, so please understand that.
It's an RPG with a friendly design even now, and the music and sound effects are so elaborate that it's incomparable to Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy of the same period.
There are battles between giant robots (though they are clay figurines, lol), so it's more flashy than DQ or FF.
The best part is that each village and city has its own famous products and 出合茶屋(deai chaya. A teahouse that existed in the Edo period for men and women to meet in secret.), so it's very well crafted.
Now that I think about it, I wonder how the SNES judging process worked?
It's an old game, but I highly recommend it.
I'm not sure if this is the best Tengai Makyoukai for me, but it's the only one I've ever played.
So I'm going to ignore all the history and reviews from the previous games, so please understand that.
It's an RPG with a friendly design even now, and the music and sound effects are so elaborate that it's incomparable to Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy of the same period.
There are battles between giant robots (though they are clay figurines, lol), so it's more flashy than DQ or FF.
The best part is that each village and city has its own famous products and 出合茶屋(deai chaya. A teahouse that existed in the Edo period for men and women to meet in secret.), so it's very well crafted.
Now that I think about it, I wonder how the SNES judging process worked?
It's an old game, but I highly recommend it.
Dunkin' Donuts is what you get if you mixed the combat and dungeon crawling of Darkest Dungeons with the visual aesthetic/story/characters of Persona 5, as well as a prostitution tycoon simulator with copious h-scenes. The gameplay loop is fun & addictive, the story is lighthearted & entertaining, the CGs are stylish, and the soundtrack bangs as hard as your clientele.
Very stylish and has my beloved Porno.
I hate porn. I hate pornography so fucking much that it kills me.
This is a good game. The level scaling is really stupid, though. If you're slightly underleved in an area, you get your ass beat. If you're overleved, everything dies in one hit.
The art is great. The animations are wonky looking, but reading the Alice's Mansion entries made me appreciate that.
There's a lot of ryona in this. I think it's interesting that the main artist is into that and admits to jacking off to beating up Kula in DOA6. There's also a lot of NTR, but you can skip that if you act quick.
I like Alyce. She is cute.
It is amost 3 am and I spent the past 12 otr more hours playing ad breating this game so im sorry if none of what im saying makes sense i had a lot of fun with it joker is a baby and zappa i will have sex with him (gay) i also like that you can have the men as talents in the new game plus the music is also very good
10/10 game
This is a good game. The level scaling is really stupid, though. If you're slightly underleved in an area, you get your ass beat. If you're overleved, everything dies in one hit.
The art is great. The animations are wonky looking, but reading the Alice's Mansion entries made me appreciate that.
There's a lot of ryona in this. I think it's interesting that the main artist is into that and admits to jacking off to beating up Kula in DOA6. There's also a lot of NTR, but you can skip that if you act quick.
I like Alyce. She is cute.
It is amost 3 am and I spent the past 12 otr more hours playing ad breating this game so im sorry if none of what im saying makes sense i had a lot of fun with it joker is a baby and zappa i will have sex with him (gay) i also like that you can have the men as talents in the new game plus the music is also very good
10/10 game
this game has awesome music and is just generally really beautiful, one of those games that just makes me happy to think about, unfortunately it also is really hard to progress in because i am stupid
A cute adventure game with a lackadaisical pace. Uniquely structured, and occasionally sharp.
Monster Rancher 3
2001
Hella cried when my Zoom monster died.
This is a living breathing world, what an experience
From washing a jacket for a hobo, telling a civilian that their love one is dead, playing pinball, and even freaking singing karaoke.
Thank you Disco Elysium for teaching me the following words:
-profligate
-oleaginous
-soliloquy
-laissez-faire
-pedantic
-sangfroid
-caprice
-asininity
-irascible
-pedagogical
-belligerent
-derisions
-sinewy
-fusillade
-parthenogenesis
-silt
-consternation
-predilection
-laconic
-mucilaginous
-cantilever
-aquarelle
-sepulcher
-placating
From washing a jacket for a hobo, telling a civilian that their love one is dead, playing pinball, and even freaking singing karaoke.
Thank you Disco Elysium for teaching me the following words:
-profligate
-oleaginous
-soliloquy
-laissez-faire
-pedantic
-sangfroid
-caprice
-asininity
-irascible
-pedagogical
-belligerent
-derisions
-sinewy
-fusillade
-parthenogenesis
-silt
-consternation
-predilection
-laconic
-mucilaginous
-cantilever
-aquarelle
-sepulcher
-placating